Thirsty Thursday welcomes Welcome to Yorkshire to Stokesley

Stokesley’s free networking event for local businesses will welcome special guests to kick of their 2016 get-togethers.

Thirsty Thursday will be joined by representatives from Welcome to Yorkshire who will be offering advice and tips on how local businesses can make the most of the Tour de Yorkshire’s visit when it passes through Stokesley and surrounding towns and villages on May 1st.

This will be Welcome to Yorkshire’s first session in Stokesley focussed on the Tour with more planned in conjunction with Stokesley Parish Council before the event in May.

Local businesses are invited to attend Thirsty Thursday free of charge, held at The Mill on Springfield, to find out how they can get involved in the Tour de Yorkshire and also how they could benefit.

In November, Thirsty Thursday celebrated its first anniversary and was joined by Stokesley’s local MP, Rishi Sunak.

Mr Sunak praised organisers, local businesswomen Anna Addison and Sue Thompson, for their commitment to supporting local businesses and their continued enthusiasm for encouraging more people to get involved in their networking event.

Anna and Sue launched the free, informal networking event in November 2014 and, since then, hundreds of businesses have taken part and each event regularly attracts over 40 different organisations.

Anna said: “Our first get together of 2016 promises to be really interesting as we’ve recently had the great news that the Tour de Yorkshire will pass through Stokesley in May. This is a fantastic opportunity for businesses and local people to work together to put our town on the map. Welcome to Yorkshire will be on hand at Thirsty Thursday to offer advice and tips on how to make the most of the event and how we can all benefit.”

Sue added: “Thirsty Thursday has already encouraged many businesses to work together on various projects, both commercial and community-based. Our aim has always been to allow businesses of all sizes to meet informally- and for free- once a month to share advice, ideas and opportunities. Stokesley is already leading the way with ideas for the Tour’s visit and we hope we can help businesses team up to make the most of this amazing opportunity.”